NIÑA ​ANINIAS

There are so many anniversaries to remember: - we have that fateful and wonderful day when we met, June 2001 (my oldest brother's church wedding here in Dubai), - we have the civil wedding date, December 29, 2004 - and we have the church wedding. I'm pretty sure I'm the only one who remembers all the dates, that's a given, ha ha!

To make it easier, we, unconsciously take the church wedding as the one worth remembering and celebrating if we can. February 5, 2005.

However, the day is so close to Valentine's day that sometimes we celebrate it on February 14 instead. It's convenient and frankly speaking, we sometimes forget until it's way too late to prepare anything. Valentine's day, however, we are reminded every day starting the 1st of February.

This year we celebrated, which was surprising. Very surprising indeed. Hubby can throw surprises, he does very good ones. He did when he proposed (of course!), on my birthday with lots of our close friends and now on our anniversary. I only found out this time because I wanted to go to Abu Dhabi to visit my parents.

I am a closet die hard romantic. I guess I do not get overly upset if an occasion is forgotten but if it is not, I am over the moon happy. I was so happy he took the time to find a nice place for dinner, asked the nanny to watch over JD that night and we just enjoy our moment over delectable food and a nice bottle of Malbec.

A celebration is not a celebration without good food and I'm sure he is more worried about whether I will love the food rather than the actual restaurant.

We had dinner at Rhodes W1 in Grosvernor House and I loved it! I will go into detail about the food (which is expected of me) in another blog. The verdict is, I am impressed and I am sure to be going back there, with or without a special occasion.

It has been a long time since I get dolled up but dolled up I did. I remember my parents gifted me with a lovely pair of earrings which is looking so grand, it calls for an occasion. I also had a dress that I bought four years ago which once again calls for a special day to be worn but just not gotten around finding that special day. I thought why not that night?

I was certainly not expecting a date it since we are both just exhausted most of the time. Looking after (mostly playing with) JD at night and on weekends. No complains here, we are so happy we have her, we sometimes pinch each other or I bite him since we can't pinch or bite JD.

I am loved and I am in love. I love this man with all my heart. I am grateful beyond words that God made a way for us to meet, 14 years ago. We sure didn't know then but He proved that we met because we are each other's soul mate. That without each other in our lives, our joy in life will only be half-way.

Like any relationship, ours is imperfect but we thrive on those imperfections. God made sure that we balance each other out. When he is upset, I am calm and when I am upset, he is calm. We have never been the screaming type and definitely never the physically aggressive type. We are the "talk to the air" when we're angry. And because we are both independent and proud people individually, "if you don't want to talk to me, I won't talk to you either".

It is a blessing that my man has an amazing, amazing, amazing sense of humour. I can be all throwing tantrums, huffing and puffing on my own and he'll say one word and I'll end up in stitches.

I would like to think I'm an ambivert but most of the time, I display introvert traits (psychology major talking), while he is definitely an extrovert. He helps me get over my anxiety in crowded places and I subtly let him know when he is going over board with the presence.

One of us will be the tough love in certain situations with the kids, while the other will be the gentle sense of reason with them so no matter the time, they will always have someone who is not upset that they can talk to.

If he says no to them, I don't say yes. We make it very clear that if there's anyone they will convince, it will be the one who said "no". One of us will always be the moral support.

We would like to think that we are giving our children enough love and showing them good examples as human beings. I have to admit that my plan to be a single mother when Alex came along was a very bad idea. I cannot imagine life without my husband. I would have been the saddest career woman with a lonely child taken care for by a nanny until he is an adult.

I cannot imagine life without the five of us, together. Side by side with my husband, hugging the taller-than-me Alex, smarty pants naughty boy Jason and our princess Jeanne Dominique. It's never easy to be responsible parents when you are kids yourselves. We try our best and hope that our best is enough.

Looking forward to more years of togetherness until we're wrinkly and old and we do embarrassing stuff to our children. ​